Government Technology reports that the PC era of computing may be coming to end. If estimates are correct, by the year 2015, most users will access the internet via tablets and smart phones, as opposed to desktop PCs.
By 2015, adoption of smartphones and tablets in the U.S. will result in more users accessing the Internet through mobile devices than via desktop PCs, according to IDC’s forecast. The number of mobile Internet users will grow by a compound annual growth rate of 16.6 percent from 2010 to 2015.
The news is not a huge surprise, but interesting to think about in terms of government. I know I rarely even turn on my laptop when I get home from work. The trend of more users moving to mobile will force lots of changes for agencies. As many government websites are in need of an upgrade, providing content that is mobile friendly will be another hurdle for agencies to tackle.
Do you think the PC is dying? How are agencies adapting?
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We’re not seeing the death of the PC yet here. Any real work (content creation) requires some type of reliable input device…. voice is stellar but not perfect, handwriting recognition is shaky at best, so the old trusty keyboard still wins. Rather than the death of the PC for content creation, what we are seeing is the explosive growth of the tablet/smartphone form factor for content consumption. Other than the challenge of “providing content that is mobile friendly” for constituants and field workers, the biggest hurtle will be to provide both creation and consumption environments that “play well together” in the work environment. Just my 2 cents….